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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27243412">Panic! At the disco</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rainbow_Trout/pseuds/Rainbow_Trout'>Rainbow_Trout</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020 [18]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Chicago Fire</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Anxiety Attacks, Gen, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Prank Wars, Spider bites, Spiders, Trauma, Whumptober</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 09:09:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,882</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27243412</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rainbow_Trout/pseuds/Rainbow_Trout</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Whumptober Day 18 - Panic Attacks, Phobias</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Matthew Casey &amp; Kelly Severide</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020 [18]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1953733</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Panic! At the disco</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Every now and again, fifty-one would get a little bit over involved in a prank war. They never let it interfere with their jobs, but that didn’t mean that they remained entirely professional, and every now and again, Boden was forced to put an end to them. But no one minded, or blamed each other… after all, it was easy to get a little bit carried away, and excitement was a form of adrenaline.</p><p>They had all just sat down for a nice lunch, settled into little clusters as they always did during a prank war. Otis was snickering, head down with Cruz, and everyone was just a little apprehensive about what might be coming.</p><p>Everyone, that was, except for Casey and Severide. They didn’t bother with the prank wars, and no one bothered them. They were officers, after all, and had more important things to do.</p><p>
  <em>Usually.</em>
</p><p>Maybe it was because shift had been particularly quiet, or maybe it was simply because Casey was sitting in the middle of the table, but Otis had evidently decided that Casey would be his next victim. He whispered something to Cruz, before standing up, pretending to stretch, and swiping something from the table.</p><p>Casey remained totally ignorant, taking another mouth full of food and looking at his newspaper. He was engrossed in a particularly interesting article about the upcoming ward election, and damn he was glad that he was no longer in politics.</p><p>Otis walked past Casey, reaching out and depositing whatever was on his hand onto the blonde’s shoulder. Casey didn’t even seem to notice, not as the spider scuttled down his arm.</p><p>Otis was already laughing, snickering behind a hand. That drew Kelly’s attention, and the squad man glanced, blue eyes evaluating the situation.</p><p>And he froze. The spider was now scuttling down Casey’s forearm, heading towards his hand. It was small, and he could see that it was harmless, but he knew that Casey wouldn’t see it like that.</p><p>“Uh… hey, Case.”</p><p>The blonde hummed absently, lazily looking up. Kelly was considering the best way to tell Casey about the spider without him freaking out, but it was too little too late. He watched in horror as the spider crawled onto Casey’s hand, and apprehension built as the blonde looked down.</p><p>Almost immeaditely, the blonde jumped up, shouting out, squealing and swiping at his hand as his chair clattered to the floor. Kelly jumped up behind him, closing in as Casey tried to put distance between himself and the table, “Hey, Case… it’s okay!”</p><p>But the blonde was utterly frantic, dancing around and shouting out. Kelly’s heart tore in sympathy as the blonde gripped at the zipper of his hoodie with shaking hands, wrenching it as he tried to get it undone, “Get it off… get it off…”</p><p>Severide stepped in just as the blonde removed himself from his hoodie, throwing it to the ground and stepping away. But he was still swiping at his body, brushing himself off as he jumped around, all the while trying to inspect himself for the spider, “No… no… off…”</p><p>“Case. Casey!”</p><p>He stood in front of his friend, firmly gripping his shoulders and forcing him to look in his eyes. Usually, he wouldn’t grab somebody when they were panicking, but this wasn’t Casey’s first rodeo, “Matt. Matt! Hey! Listen to me!”</p><p>Casey’s movements slowed, and that meant that everyone could see his face. He was bright red, and tears were streaking down his face. No one had expected <em>that</em>, and they all watched on as Casey stared at his friend, “Kel. It’s on me… it’s… please, get it off.”</p><p>Keeping his voice even, and maintaining eye contact, Severide shook his head, “It’s not, Casey. It’s not… don’t worry. You’re okay.”</p><p>But Casey just shook his own head as he started pulling away, curling his arms up to his chest, “No… I didn’t… I can’t see it… I can’t…”</p><p>His breathing hitched and heaved, and Kelly took his wrists, squeezing tightly, “It’s not on you, bud… it’ll be on the ground –”</p><p>“Have you seen it?” Casey demanded, hoping for anything in the way of reassurance.</p><p>And Severide wished that he could give it as he shook his head, because he’d never lie to his friend, “No. But I can’t see it on you, either, Case…”</p><p>Another tear trailed down Casey’s face, body shuddering in Severide’s grasp, anxiety starting to build again, “But I can feel it…”</p><p>Fixing Casey with an even look, Severide nodded, “Okay. Where? I can get it off.”</p><p>Casey blinked again, suddenly unable to locate the sensation, “My arm…”</p><p>“Okay… I can’t see anything, bud… it’s not there.”</p><p>Still squirming in Kelly's grasp, Casey sobbed again, “No… it’s on my back now… my shoulder…”</p><p>Leaning down in front of his friend, Severide looked at him in the eyes, “So it’s jumping around your body, bud? It’s everywhere?”</p><p>Casey nodded, breath wheezing in and out of his lungs, tears still streaming down his face. Kelly smiled at the opportunity, knowing that Casey was starting to come back into the realm of rational thought, “Well, that doesn’t make sense, bud. Spiders can’t move around like that… it would be in just one place. Yeah?”</p><p>Casey considered, before nodding, raising a shaking hand to his face, “Um… yeah… yeah…”</p><p>Glad that he was finally getting somewhere, Severide stated, “It’s not real. Bud. Repeat after me; it’s not real.”</p><p>“It’s not real… it’s not real…”</p><p>The blonde repeated the phrase a few more times, before nodding, now snapped from his panic. Severide let out a breath of relief, knowing that Casey’s panic attacks were capable of landing him in the hospital, “It’s alright, bud… you’re alright…”</p><p>Slowly, Casey nodded, his shaking slowing. He glanced down at his jumper, eyeing it wearily, “And it’s not in that?”</p><p>“I’ll check it, bud… see?” Kelly bent down, picking up the jumper and making sure to keep his distance from Casey as he straightened it out. He slowly inspected it, allowing Casey to see each inch of fabric as he turned it inside out, “I can’t see it, bud… it’s not here… think it’s gone.”</p><p>Casey nodded, before wearily looking back to the table, actively avoiding everyone’s eyes. He knew that they’d be looking, but he just couldn’t be bothered with them at the moment. He just wanted to crawl away and hide, maybe forever.</p><p>Knowing that Casey wasn’t going to go anywhere near the table, Severide moved towards him, handing him back his jumper. Casey took it, avoiding Severide’s eyes as well as he mumbled, “I’ll be in my office.”</p><p>He stalked away, banging through the door and disappearing. Severide heaved out a breath, pausing only for a moment before following him. He knew that Casey was probably emptying an entire bottle of bug spray in his office, and it wasn’t exactly large. Kelly just wanted to make sure he was okay.</p><p>Which left an <em>extremely</em> awkward environment behind. Nobody knew how to react, because they’d never seen Casey even come close to panicking… and he’d been in <em>tears</em>.</p><p>“That was unexpected.”</p><p>Everyone turned back to Herrmann, and in that moment, the older man didn’t realise that they were looking to him for leadership. So, he didn’t take the most mature response as he snorted, “I’ve never seen Casey react like that.”</p><p>Nobody would ever know why they reacted like they did – maybe it was the adrenaline, maybe it was because the situation was so damn alien that none of them knew how to react – and no one even knew who started laughing first, but pretty soon, they were all in stitches, clinging to the table as they laughed.</p><p>They were so distracted with their laughter that they didn’t even realise when Severide came back in, disappointment written across his features. He’d arrived at Casey’s office to see the man trembling so badly that he’d hardly been able to hold the fly spray open, and the blonde had broken down again in front of him. He’d started scratching at his hands and wrists, convinced that he’d been bitten, and Severide had sat on the edge of his bed and inspected his hands with him, proving that there was no spider bite.</p><p>And then he’d come back to see everyone <em>laughing</em>.</p><p>“What the <em>the fuck</em>, guys?”</p><p>Everyone turned back to him, seeing his arms crossed across his chest. Immeaditely, they went silent, not wanting to tempt the hot-headed Lieutenant.</p><p>Severide was still shaking his head, glaring at every member of fifty-one one at a time. He could see that Otis was still struggling to stifle his laughter, “Is something funny, Otis?”</p><p>The truck man snorted, unable to hold it back any longer, “You have to admit… it was pretty funny…”</p><p>But Severide shook his head, hardening, “It’s not funny. Phobias are real. Pranks can be funny, but releasing a live spider isn’t.”</p><p>Looking hurt, Otis tried defending himself, “It wasn’t dangerous… it was a harmless spider. I obviously wouldn’t put Casey in danger…”</p><p>Groaning, Severide shook his head, rolling his eyes, “Has it occurred to you guys that Casey has a reason to be afraid of spiders?”</p><p>He was met with blank stares, and Kelly rolled his eyes as he continued, “A year out of the academy, Case was bitten by a “harmless” spider, and two weeks later, Andy and I found him on the floor of our bathroom, barely breathing. He’d got an infection and gone into septic shock. He was in the ICU for a week, in the hospital for months… he barely survived, and it took him a year to make a full recovery.”</p><p>Everyone had heard the fear in Kelly’s voice as he’d recounted the tale, fear that they’d never seen from the Squad Lieutenant. It was clear that the experience was still fresh on Kelly’s mind, and that he’d never recovered himself.</p><p>Severide’s voice took on a quieter edge as he continued, “And we didn’t think that he would make a full recovery… it really didn’t look like it for months. He was so unbelievably sick… and ever since, he’s been terrified of spiders. I think it’s fair enough.”</p><p>Silence lapsed in the common room, everyone processing what had just been said. Eventually, Otis spoke up, voice quiet with regret, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”</p><p>Kelly sighed, knowing that he was perhaps bordering on unfair, “I know… I know. But maybe next time someone gives a reaction like that… don’t laugh. Check if they’re alright… you all know how Casey is. He’ll be embarrassed over this… just… think about the person, yeah?”</p><p>He was met with murmured agreements, and he took a breath. He had probably just ended this prank war, but he didn’t care. Moving towards Casey’s plate, he picked it up, before taking his own in his hands, “I’m gonna go check on Case… just… leave us for a little while. I’ll do what I can.”</p><p>Severide was just about to leave when Otis stood, picking up the two glasses, “Can I come… and apologise? Or would that make things worse.”</p><p>Kelly considered for a moment, before nodding, “Yeah… okay. But then leave. He probably wants to be left alone… uh, and obviously no one mention this again. Yeah? And no more spiders.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So this is based off a true story and what happened to me - I've been wanting to write a fic about it for a long time, but I think this is going to be as close as I can manage :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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